Politics

By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Egypt has missed out on an additional $75 million in American military aid after a senior Democratic U.S. senator blocked the funding over concerns about Cairo’s human rights record including holding political prisoners.

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, rejected an assessment offered by the U.S. State Department to justify the aid, which was subject to conditions under a law passed by Congress last year. The committee has jurisdiction over spending legislation including U.S. financial assistance for Egypt.

“We should take this law very seriously, because the situation facing political prisoners in Egypt is deplorable,” Leahy told Reuters in a statement.

“We can’t give short shrift to the law because of other policy considerations. We all have a responsibility to uphold the law and to defend the due process rights of the accused, whether here or in Egypt,” Leahy said.

The conditions set by Congress require Egypt to make “clear and consistent progress” in releasing political prisoners and providing detainees with due process of law.

The United States allocates around $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt annually. Much of it has no conditions attached. But the State Department withheld $130 million of military aid to Egypt in September over broad rights concerns, but said it would allow another $75 million to be paid, citing progress by the Egyptian government on political detentions and due process, including the release of about 500 political detainees this year.

But Leahy objected. Talks between his office and the State Department failed to resolve the issue, and the $75 million in funding expired on Sept. 30.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Leading human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s government of widespread abuses such as torture and the detention of tens of thousands of political prisoners.

Sisi has denied that Egypt holds political prisoners. He also has said that stability and security are paramount for Egypt and that authorities are promoting rights by trying to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing.

Analysts have said Western powers are reluctant to take serious action against a strategic ally, in Egypt, that has served as a mediator in longstanding issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and also controls the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

U.S. officials have called the American relationship with Egypt complex. The most populous Arab country is a vital ally and Washington is still committed to support it for what U.S. officials call “legitimate defense needs.”

(Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis in Cairo, Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Will Dunham and Michelle Nichols)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — This year’s midterm elections are playing out as a strange continuation of the last presidential race — and a potential preview of the next one.

Donald Trump, who refused to exit the stage after his defeat, has spent months raging against Joe Biden, reshaping downballot campaigns that normally function as a straightforward referendum on the incumbent president.

The result is an episode of political shadowboxing with little precedent, as the current president and his immediate predecessor — and possible future challenger — crisscross the country in support of their party’s candidates.

Trump has been holding raucous rallies in battleground states, where he alternates between touting his handpicked candidates and denouncing his enemies. He belittles and excoriates Biden while lying, as he did in Ohio last month, that “we didn’t lose” the last election.

Biden has so far steered clear of some of the tightest midterm races, instead focusing on fundraisers and official events where he draws contrasts between Democratic and Republican policy agendas. He often avoids direct references to “the last guy,” but on Saturday in Oregon, Biden warned that “Trump controls the Republican Party.”

Sometimes the two men travel to the same places, such as when they visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, within days of each other, a reflection of the narrow political map that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

“It’s remarkably unusual,” said Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, who strained to think of any comparison in previous election cycles.

“Without exception, since the Great Depression” — Republican Herbert Hoover tried to plot a path back to power despite losing to Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 — “we have not had a former president who believed they still had a viable political career ahead of them,” he said.

Neither Trump nor Biden has formally announced they will run again. Trump has come close to declaring his candidacy, and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term.

If they face off again, the competition between them could become one of the longest and impactful political duels in American history, spanning several years and multiple elections.

Voters seem to have little appetite for a rematch.

A recent AP-NORC poll shows only about 3 in 10 Americans want either Biden or Trump to run for president in two years. Just 5 in 10 Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, while 6 out of 10 Republicans hope to see Trump seek the presidency again.

Engel said another battle between Biden and Trump would likely prove dispiriting.

“What that fundamentally means is our country is not moving forward,” he said. “I have not met anybody who relishes that campaign.”

However, it’s clear that both men see their fortunes tied to the other.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Biden whether he’s the only one who could fend off his predecessor in another campaign, the president sidestepped the question but expressed confidence about his chances.

“I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” he said.

Trump would take issue with the use of the word “again” — he continues to spread the lie that Biden only took office through voter fraud.

It’s an integral part of Trump’s political message, and he never fails to bring it up at rallies for Republican candidates who have endorsed his false views on the last election. Sometimes the rhetoric dives even deeper into conspiracies, a reminder that another campaign could represent an even sharper break with reality.

In Arizona, during his most recent rally, Trump darkly suggested that Biden is surrounded by “vicious, very smart people” who are “pulling strings.”

“No one thought this could happen in our country, and it all happened because of a rigged and stolen election,” he said.

The former president has also tightened his embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which portrays Trump as battling sinister, hidden forces.

Using his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming,” referencing his eventual victory over opponents who would be tried — or even executed — on live television.

People close to Trump have said they believe a strong performance by Republicans in November will further encourage Trump to run again in two years, as he has been openly teasing for months.

In addition to his rallies, which earn candidates local media attention and fire up the Republican base, Trump has been helping candidates in other ways, holding fundraisers and tele-rally calls on their behalf. Most significantly, last week, his new super PAC, MAGA Inc., reserved nearly $5 million in airtime for ads in key states attacking the opponents of his favored candidates.

The first round of ads from the group notably do not feature Trump or even mention his name. Republicans have expressed frustration that Trump was hoarding small-dollar donations for himself and refusing to help the candidates he had pushed voters to nominate, despite sitting on an enormous war chest.

But Mike DuHaime, a longtime Republican strategist, isn’t sure the outcome of the midterms will make a difference in Trump’s plans for the next presidential race.

“He’ll take credit for every win and deflect blame for every loss,” he said.

Trump has claimed, as he did in Pennsylvania last month, that the midterms are “a referendum on the corruption and extremism of Joe Biden and the radical Democrat party.”

But DuHaime said Trump has prevented that from happening by injecting himself into this year’s races, providing a boost to Biden, whose poll numbers remain underwater as voters express concerns about the economy.

“Trump is no ordinary president, nor did he really seem to care about the party,” he said. “He seems to care about himself more than the party that put him in office.”

Biden’s circle has a similar view. An adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said those around Biden see the midterms as having become more of a choice than a referendum. Trump’s presence on the trail, the adviser said, is seen as helping make Democratic points for them.

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said the only thing more helpful would be if Trump announced another presidential campaign.

“He’s getting dangerously close to that,” she said.

Biden has deferred any announcement about his own candidacy until after Election Day, keeping his focus on the midterms.

Like other incumbent presidents in an election year, Biden has blended his political and governmental duties as voting begins.

He stopped in Colorado on Wednesday to designate the first national monument of his administration, fulfilling the wishes of the state’s senior Democratic senator, Michael Bennett, who is seeking reelection this year. Although Bennett is favored to win, he’s facing a concerted challenge from Joe O’Dea, a Republican businessman.

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.

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For more information on the midterm elections, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California ballot measure that would tax the rich to help put more electric cars on the road may seem tailor-made to win support from Democrats in a state known for climate leadership, but Proposition 30 has one notable opponent: Gov. Gavin Newsom. That’s put the Democratic governor on the opposite side of his own party and against his traditional environmental allies.

The proposition before voters would add a 1.75% tax on personal income of more than $2 million, or fewer than 43,000 people. State analysts estimate it would raise up to $5 billion a year, mostly to help people buy electric vehicles and to build charging stations, with some also dedicated to resources for fighting wildfires.

Environmental and health group backers say California needs dedicated funding to speed the transition away from gas-powered cars and help lower planet-warming emissions. Transportation accounts for 40% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly deadly wildfires are another major source of carbon.

“We can’t meet our climate goals without something like this,” said Mary Creasman, chief executive officer for California Environmental Voters. “It’s either going to be all of us who pays, or it’s going to be the wealthiest who can afford to pay.”

Newsom has branded Proposition 30 as a money grab by ridesharing giant Lyft, which has spent at least $45 million backing it. State regulators have mandated that all rideshare trips be zero-emission by 2030. Uber has not taken a position on the measure.

“Don’t be fooled, Prop. 30′s being advertised as a climate initiative, but in reality it was devised by a single corporation to funnel state income taxes to benefit their company,” Newsom says in one TV ad.

Supporters reject that characterization, saying that Lyft got involved after environmental groups were already discussing a ballot measure. Creasman said it was important to “call our own team and governor out for lying” about the origins of the measure.

In an election year where Newsom is expected to cruise to reelection for a second term, the fight over Proposition 30 has become perhaps the most contentious of the season for Democrats. It comes months after state air regulators approved a Newsom-backed plan to ban the sale of most new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. Newsom notes that he has already dedicated $10 billion to various programs aimed at boosting EV adoption over the next six years.

Half the money raised in Proposition 30 for electric vehicles would go into an equity account designed to expand transportation options and limit air pollution in low-income or disadvantaged neighborhoods. It could be used to help people buy electric cars or to put cleaner delivery trucks, buses and even e-bikes on the roads.

Wildfires, too, have become an increasingly urgent problem as climate change makes the state hotter and drier. Most of the state’s deadliest and most destructive wildfires have occurred in the last few years, and the state estimates wildfires released more than 85 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2021 — more than the annual emissions from electricity.

Lyft says it supports the measure because reducing emissions is good climate policy.

“Proposition 30 funds this through a tax on individuals who earn more than $2 million a year. I’m fortunate enough to be impacted by this tax and happy to pay it to help turn back the clock on this existential threat,” Logan Green, the company’s chief executive officer, wrote in a blog post.

Joining Newsom in opposing the measure are the California Teachers Association, the California Chamber of Commerce and some venture capitalists who are helping fund the “No” campaign.

The money raised by the tax wouldn’t count toward a state budget rule that says a certain percentage of revenue must go to K-12 education, a provision the teachers don’t like. Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said the proposal could force lower spending in other areas based on certain budget rules, something supporters of the measure dispute.

Business groups note that California’s personal income tax is already the highest in the nation, and the ballot measure would put it over 15% for the highest earners. Loren Kaye, foundation president for the California Chamber of Commerce, also warned that a rapid expansion of electric vehicles could strain the energy grid, an argument the Newsom administration has rejected.

Backers of Proposition 30 include the California Democratic Party, the Clean Air Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Lung Association, which have rejected characterizations that the measure is designed to benefit Lyft specifically, noting there’s no provision that would expressly set aside money for rideshare drivers.

While Newsom’s existing commitment to electric vehicle infrastructure is significant, the state needs a more stable long-term revenue source, supporters argue. The tax increase would last for 20 years if the measure passes.

“We need a consistent, reliable source of funding that keeps us going through good budget years and bad budget years,” said Bill Magavern, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air. Referring to Lyft, he added, “If the goal is to limit pollution, does it matter who is driving the EV?”

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By Jeff Mason

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will take on a potential 2024 presidential rival, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis, in a November campaign event for the Democratic candidate for governor, Charlie Crist.

The White House said on Sunday that Biden will travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Nov. 1 to attend a reception for Crist, a former governor and member of Congress who is trailing in polls behind the popular Republican incumbent.

Biden and DeSantis have publicly played nice with each other in recent weeks in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. During a joint appearance on a trip to survey storm damage in Florida, Biden said the two leaders had worked “hand-in-glove.”

But the differences between them are stark. And both men could potentially be rivals in 2024 if Biden runs for re-election, which he has indicated he intends to do, and if DeSantis runs for the Republican nomination and succeeds in beating back former President Donald Trump, who is mulling a comeback bid.

DeSantis is popular in the Republican Party and has clashed with Biden on multiple policy issues including COVID-19 vaccines, immigration, and abortion rights.

The president’s embrace of Crist and his attempt to boost him in the late stages of the campaign could be a sign that Democrats have not given up on hopes of toppling DeSantis in his home state. It could also reflect an effort to let Biden make a more muscular argument against a man who is a likely presidential hopeful.

Biden just completed a western travel swing in which he sought to boost Democrat Tina Kotek, who is running in a tight race for governor in Oregon. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate is at stake in the November midterm elections, but state elections and governors’ races are also being closely watched for their potential policy impacts on abortion and voting rights.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that President Joe Biden will act “methodically” in re-evaluating the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia, but options include changes to security assistance to the major oil producer.

Sullivan, speaking on CNN, said Biden had no plans to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a G20 leaders summit in November and no changes were “imminent.”

“And so the President isn’t going act precipitously, he is going to act methodically, strategically and he’s going to take his time to consult with members of both parties, and also to have an opportunity for Congress to return so that he can sit with them in person and work through the options,”

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — Derrick Van Orden was among the thousands of people who went to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally headlined by then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Afterward, Van Orden was photographed on or near the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, where rioters violently breached the building in one of American democracy’s darkest days.

Now Van Orden, a Donald Trump-endorsed retired Navy SEAL who says he took no part in the riot and did not set foot on the Capitol grounds, appears poised to win the U.S. House seat held since 1997 by retiring Democratic Rep. Ron Kind. Voters in the southwestern Wisconsin district say they are more concerned about daily economic issues than what happened on Jan. 6.

“He shouldn’t have been there. Don’t get me wrong,” said Rosemary Hermanson, a 60-year-old political independent from Black River Falls. “I’m just worried about feeding myself and making sure I’ve got gas to get to my cancer treatments.”

That’s the challenge for Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff as he scrambles in the final weeks of the Nov. 8 election to sound the alarm and raise money, trying to make Van Orden’s attendance on Jan. 6 a disqualifier for holding elective office. The stakes are high as Pfaff’s party seek to stop the slide in this once-Democratic leaning part of the country.

“I think it’s the No. 1 issue. It’s the underlying issue of this race,” Pfaff said in an interview. “Jan. 6 opened up the window into his soul. And what we saw there, is we saw something that is unfortunately very dark.”

Pfaff acknowledges he is trailing the Republican, who has a vast fundraising edge.

Van Orden’s campaign declined to make him available for an interview with The Associated Press.

Some voters in the 3rd Congressional District, a sprawling landscape of dairy farms, small manufacturing hubs and college towns, have sharply negative views of what happened Jan. 6. But that doesn’t mean they blame Van Orden.

Hermanson said she had not seen Pfaff’s ads on the issue. Nor had Beth Hammond, a 49-year-old Republican from nearby Taylor who said the economy, followed closely by gun rights, top her list of concerns.

“Even if I’d seen his ads, it wouldn’t matter to me,” she said. “It wasn’t a good thing. But it’s not what’s at the heart of peoples’ lives now.”

Even Susan Burlingame, a Democrat in Black River Falls who will be voting against Van Orden, said it wasn’t because of the riot.

“I’m afraid he’s going to cut Social Security,” said Burlingame, 80. “The other stuff is just noise.”

Their ambivalence about Pfaff’s key strategy is noteworthy, considering all three are from Jackson County, the most closely divided among the 18 in the district. It’s territory that Democrat Barack Obama won twice in his White House races, but has become more conservative as rural areas generally have done so. Trump carried the district in 2016 and 2020.

Perhaps mindful of the shift, Kind chose not to run for a 14th term after beating Van Orden by less than 3 percentage points two years ago.

The district runs from north of the university town of Menomonie in the northwest down through the Mississippi River bluffs and rolling hills of the picturesque Driftless Area and includes Chippewa Falls, home of Leinenkugel beer. From the Illinois border, it stretches 250 miles north past Prairie du Chien, Van Orden’s home, known for its Cabela’s outdoor gear distribution center and 19th century riverside historic sites.

Pfaff, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture appointee and past state secretary of agriculture, says Van Orden’s presence at Trump’s rally, on Jan. 6, held shortly before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, suggests he would have a hard time building relationships in Congress.

“How is he going to do any of this when his character and judgment is the way it is?” said Pfaff, 54, who’s from La Crosse.

Van Orden, 53, has said he was in Washington for political meetings when he decided to attend the rally near the White House. He says he did not march to the Capitol and he condemned the violence.

A Facebook photo from that day appears to show Van Orden posing with a small handful of protesters on the Capitol grounds. Van Orden has said the suggestion he was within the restricted area is “inaccurate.”

Pfaff and his Democratic allies are trying to make a late push.

Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, from the neighboring district that includes Democratic-dominated Madison, campaigned this month with Pfaff on the five smaller University of Wisconsin system campuses in the district. The hope was to scoop up supporters in the small Democratic-leaning cities from Platteville in the south to Menomonie in the north.

Pocan fretted that national Democrats have so far failed to commit to pouring late money into the race and would reconsider.

Van Orden had raised more than six times as much as Pfaff through early summer. Pfaff was expected to have raised a little more than $700,000 in the third quarter, still certain to leave him trailing Van Orden by millions in overall money raised. Outside conservative groups were expected to spend more than $1 million for Van Orden in the final weeks, while an independent group had committed to spending roughly $500,000 on an ad condemning him.

The House Democrats’ super political action committee has reserved $1.68 million in advertising time for Pfaff, but could choose to shift that elsewhere.

GOP congressional strategists said the uncertainty over Pfaff’s money was telling.

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Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK (AP) — In Donald Trump’s assessment, Mike Pence “committed political suicide” on Jan. 6, 2021.

By refusing to go along with the then-president’s unconstitutional push to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Pence became a leading target of Trump’s wrath and a pariah in many Republican circles.

But the final weeks of this year’s intensely competitive midterm elections suggest that the former vice president’s fortunes have shifted as he lays the groundwork for his own potential 2024 White House campaign. The man who was booed last year at a conservative conference is now an in-demand draw for Republican candidates, including some who spent their primaries obsessively courting Trump’s endorsement, in part by parroting his election lies.

Pence has traveled the country, holding events and raising millions for candidates and Republican groups, including signing fundraising solicitations for party committees.

For some campaigns in tight races, Pence is seen as something of a neutralizing agent who can help broaden their appeal beyond Trump’s core base of support. That’s the case in Arizona, with a critical Senate race this year and where the 2024 presidential campaign will be hotly contested. Last week, Pence endorsed Senate nominee Blake Masters, who has struggled to pivot from the primary and win over moderates in a state where one-third of voters are registered independents.

“He takes a little bit of the edge off Masters with a lot of voters,” veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed said. “You know Masters is new to this, first-time candidate, said some silly things he probably regrets during the campaign. But now it’s all about undecided voters in Maricopa County. There’s not a lot more science behind this.”

The endorsements can seem jarring given that Pence has spent much of the past year pushing back on Trump’s election lies, which spurred the violent mob that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 while Pence was trying to preside over the formal congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Pence and members of his family had to be rushed to safety and were held for hours in an underground loading dock as the marauders roamed the building’s hallways. Some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” and erected a makeshift gallows outside.

Pence agreed to endorse Masters even though Masters, during the primary, baselessly denied the 2020 election results. Masters recorded a video in which he said he thought Trump had won and claimed on his website that “if we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today.” Trump endorsed Masters in June, saying in a statement: “Blake knows that the “Crime of the Century” took place, he will expose it and also, never let it happen again.”

Pence made no mention of that in Phoenix on Tuesday.

“What I came here to Arizona to say is not only is Blake Masters the right choice for the United States Senate, the people of Arizona deserve to know Blake Masters may be the difference between a Democrat majority in the Senate and a Republican majority in the Senate,” Pence said.

The former vice president, along with Masters and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, took just three questions, two of them from conservative websites. When a television reporter tried to ask Masters if Pence was right to move forward with certifying Biden’s victory, the candidate was quickly cut off by a Masters spokesman.

Masters is not the only election denier Pence has endorsed or assisted.

Two days after the Masters event, Pence was in Georgia headlining a fundraiser for Burt Jones, the nominee for lieutenant governor. Jones not only embraced Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud and called for a statewide investigation into the 2020 race, but he also signed on to be one of his state’s fake alternate electors — a scheme now under criminal investigation.

Last month, Pence was in New Hampshire for Senate nominee Don Bolduc, a retired Army general who also spent his primary campaign telling voters the race was stolen from Trump.

Marc Short, a longtime Pence adviser, declined to set a red line for candidates Pence would and would not endorse.

“It’s more about making sure that he’s being a team player where he needs to be,” Short said. “I think as a lot of these candidates look to solidify the party behind them, Pence can be helpful.”

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines in the 2020 election, underscored by repeated audits, court cases and the conclusions of Trump’s own Department of Justice. Still, support of false election claims run deep among GOP candidates this year.

The Masters endorsement notably came days after a debate in which he made headlines for seeming to have shifted from his most outrageous rigged election claims. Masters instead blamed Trump’s loss on “big tech,” “big media” and the FBI, and under repeated questioning, acknowledged he hadn’t seen evidence the vote count or results were manipulated, as Trump has claimed. (After the Pence visit, Masters told Fox News he stood by what he had said on his now-modified website, adding: “I think if everyone followed the law, President Trump would be in the Oval Office.”)

Short said Pence was happy to support candidates who had moved past 2020, as the former vice president has urged the party to do.

“If people sort of acknowledged a mistaken position before, he certainly wants to reward that,” Short said. “I think he wants to help conservatives first and foremost, but if people who were elected are now adopting new position about the events of Jan. 6,” Short said, “then that’s a positive.”

Jones and Bolduc have also tried to distance themselves from their previous statements.

In interviews, Jones has tried to play down the fake elector slate as a “procedural move,” while noting that voters rarely mention the 2020 race.

“Look he’s been consistent that he does not believe the 2020 election was rigged. He said that Joe Biden is president,” said Jones campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson, who noted that Pence and Jones have a long-standing relationship and, like Masters, share former Pence staff.

“For us, it was sort of a no-brainer because the vice president’s still very well liked in Georgia, very well received. And we’re in that final stretch where any Republican coming to raise money, support, is a value add,” he said.

“I think it’s certainly a nod to more mainstream kind of moderate Republicans. I think that’s a fair assessment,” he said.

Bolduc claimed throughout the primary race that the 2020 election had been stolen. During a debate, he proclaimed that “Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by” and adding, “I’m not switching horses, baby.”

But right after the GOP primary — and a day after appearing with Pence — he told Fox News it was time to move on. “You know, we live and learn, right? And I’ve done a lot of research on this and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks talking to Granite Staters all over the state from every party. And I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this: The election was not stolen,” Bolduc said. He described Biden as “the legitimate president of this country.”

(Earlier this month Bolduc changed his position again, saying he wasn’t sure what happened with the election. “I can’t say that it was stolen or not. I don’t have enough information.”)

Reed, the party strategist, said he understood the rationale behind Pence’s endorsements.

“He’s a big picture party guy. And it doesn’t surprised me that he’s hustling as hard as he is for people who may not be 100% Pencers,” he said. “By doing these kinds of events,” he added, “they’re going to take another look at him if he decides to run.”

Pence’s political future is an open question. Trump, who is widely expected to run again, remains deeply popular with Republican primary voters and would almost certainly be an early front-runner for the 2024 nomination. Pence has said his own decision about running will not be influenced by Trump, though allies often voice skepticism that Trump ultimately will end up on the ballot.

Beyond his endorsements, Pence has spent his time since leaving office performing a careful balancing act. He has distanced himself from Trump’s most corrosive statements while promoting what he calls the Trump-Pence agenda. Pence, like generations of could-be candidates, has used the primaries as an opportunity to forge new relationships and build goodwill, and continues to align himself with conservative causes. His trips often include college visits and speeches before anti-abortion groups.

Other potential 2024 candidates have campaigned for the Republican cause, including Texas Sen. Ted Cuz, who is on a monthlong, 17-state “Take Back America” bus tour. Trump has held rallies and finally begun spending a small part of his vast political fortune to help his favored candidates.

“I think he and all these guys are out there really helping the Republicans to win back the House and win back the Senate. It’s an effort that everybody needs to contribute to,” said David McIntosh, president of the influential Club for Growth, who has joined Pence at several events.

McIntosh, who has been at odds with Trump in recent months, said he believes the electorate is “moving on” from 2020 “to what’s on the ballot this election.” He said candidates such as Masters “want to show that they’ve got support from all different types of Republicans, everyone that’s out there, so there’s a unity theme.”

“It’s always been my view,” he added, “that leaders like that help themselves by helping.”

But being popular enough that candidates want to campaign with you is very different from being popular enough to be competitive in a presidential primary, and right now, Pence routinely polls in the single digits, far lower than Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Around here people talk about DeSantis and Trump,” said Georgia GOP strategist Brian Robinson, adding that attention is largely focused on the Nov. 8 midterms.

Pence’s policy group recently held a retreat in Utah at the Montage Deer Valley that was attended by GOP donors such as Matthew J. Bruderman, a New York investor who praised Pence’s election-year efforts.

“He’s been extremely effective and deserves credit for continuing to help elect people who he believes will help advance conservative principles,” Bruderman said by email, adding that he would “support him or any fiscal conservative of courage and character that wins the nomination” in 2024.

Art Pope, another donor who attended the retreat, said he “personally would love to see Vice President Pence run in 2024.”

“Yes there are frictions and there are divisions” in the GOP, he said, but the party is uniting behind its nominees now that primaries are over.

“Vice President Pence is both benefiting for that unity and helping lead that unification,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

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By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will act “methodically” in deciding how to respond to Saudi Arabia over oil output cuts, but options include changes to U.S. security assistance, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

Sullivan, speaking on CNN, said no changes to the U.S.-Saudi relationship were imminent as Biden re-evaluates it.

“And so the president isn’t going act precipitously. He is going to act methodically, strategically and he’s going to take his time to consult with members of both parties, and also to have an opportunity for Congress to return so that he can sit with them in person and work through the options,” Sullivan said.

A day after OPEC+ oil producers last week announced output cuts over U.S. objections, Biden vowed to impose “consequences” on Saudi Arabia for siding with Russia in supporting the cuts. The OPEC+ move undermines Western countries’ plans to impose a cap on the price of Russian oil exports in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a halt to most U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the OPEC+ move.

Biden’s options “include changes to our approach to security assistance to Saudi Arabia, but I’m not going to get ahead of the president. What I will say is there’s nothing imminent,” Sullivan said, adding that there was time for Biden to consult with Congress.

Sullivan said Biden has no plans to meet with Saudi Arabia’s de-facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at a G20 leaders summit in November in Indonesia.

Asked whether Biden would view Russia’s use of a small tactical nuclear weapon or detonating one in the Black Sea as less serious than a larger bomb, Sullivan said it was “dangerous” to draw such distinctions, and the president would not do so.

“The use of a nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine is the use of a nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine. We’re not going to slice the salami,” Sullivan added.

He said it was incumbent upon NATO allies and other responsible countries, including China and India, to “send a very clear and decisive message to Russia that they should not contemplate the use of nuclear weapons in this conflict.”

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday asked a federal appeals court to end a special third-party review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida, arguing that a district court judge lacked authority to appoint a special master.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Katharine Jackson)

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Californians are voting now through Election Day on whether to approve a state constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion and contraception, one of several measures on ballots nationwide this November to address reproductive health care following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Proposition 1 is expected to pass in the heavily Democratic state and was part of a robust legislative package backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to ensure California remains a haven for people seeking abortion services. Legislators placed the measure to amend the constitution on the Nov. 8 ballot days just after the court ruled in June that states could decide whether to allow abortion.

Polling shows high support for the measure — at least two-thirds of likely voters said yes in two surveys — with minimal financial opposition from the California Republican Party and others who call the proposition expensive, extreme and unnecessary.

But the measure’s supporters want to send a resounding message that abortion is legal and accessible in California, and they hope a solid win will inspire other states also to enshrine the right in their constitutions.

“The challenge is we had a very short runway, so it really is about awareness. We know when people are aware that abortion is on the ballot, they’re likely to come out and vote for it,” said Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which supports the measure.

California joins Michigan and Vermont in asking voters in November to protect the right to abortion. In Kentucky, voters will be asked to amend the state constitution to declare there is not a right to an abortion. A measure in Montana asks voters whether to require medical care and treatment for infants born alive after an attempted abortion.

The amendment in California would declare that the state “shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”

Opponents say the measure was put on the ballot to score political points with women and drive voter turnout in favor of Democrats. They also say the measure contains no gestational or viability limits on abortion, meaning a fetus could be aborted late in pregnancy even though it’s capable of surviving outside the womb.

California law currently restricts abortion to only before a fetus is viable, which is usually defined as around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Abortions in the third trimester are rare, and in California, permitted only if the mother’s life or heath is at risk.

“Californians don’t support late term abortions,” said Catherine Hadro, spokesperson for the No on Prop. 1 campaign.

The measure’s supporters say a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion will have no bearing on limits placed on abortions by lawmakers.

“The constitution has always meant to be a broad framework of rights and the Legislature decides the scope of the laws, this won’t change what is in statute right now,” said Hicks of Planned Parenthood affiliates.

A September survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found 69% of likely voters would support the proposition, including 33% of Republicans. An August poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 71% of registered voters would vote yes.

Nearly 40% of people who said they would vote yes said that abortion should be legal in most, but not all, cases, said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. It’s not clear how much opponents’ arguments will stick with voters, if at all.

“That’s something people will be asking about between now and Election Day, especially those people who say it should be OK in most cases,” he said.

Before Roe was overturned, the overwhelming majority of abortions in the United States — around 90% — occurred in the first trimester or at 13 weeks or earlier, said Katrina Kimport, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. An estimated 1% of abortions occurred at 21 weeks or later, she said.

Women who have abortions in the third trimester generally fall into one of two categories, she said. They’ve either learned new information, such as a serious health issue with the fetus that could not be ascertained in earlier trimesters, or they faced insurmountable obstacles preventing them from getting an abortion earlier.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs may actually increase the number of women seeking third-trimester abortions, she said.

California’s abortion ballot measure and new state legislation protecting abortion are all “helpful but not sufficient,” said Donna Crane, political science lecturer at San José State University and Menlo College.

That’s because Congress can always pass a federal ban and the conservative U.S. Supreme Court is likely to take up new conflicts that could result in more limitations, said Crane, who served nearly two decades as strategist and lobbyist with NARAL Pro-Choice America in Washington, D.C. and supports Prop. 1.

“California can pass law after law after law,” she said, “and the federal law will always trump us.”

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